When they grow up
by celcette
Summary: A prequel to 'Diamonds in the rough', do not read if you haven't read it yet Before they were the confident teens that ruled the social scene they were tweens who were growing and changing. Take a look at how they deal with the physical and mental chang
1. When Celina Bass grows up

From a beautiful swan to a supermodel

Place: Palace Hotel

Time: 10:48 AM

Celina Bass adjusted her Eleanor Original floral dress in an attempt to not look so voluptuous. She had recently found out after her dress fitting with her mom's assistant Laurel that she turned from an A-cup to a B-cup. Ever since then Celina had tried on clothes that didn't expose much of her just. The last thing she wanted was for people to notice that she was some freak with huge boobs.

Blair Waldorf-Bass, who was slowly walking to the Madison room. Chuck Bass, who was checking his blackberry, looked down at the overly conscious girl. "Celina," Chuck whispered, making sure Blair didn't here. "Your mom told me about the dress fitting thing." Oh great, the last thing Celina needed was for her overly protective dad to find out that the floral dress she was now wearing had to be changed because her boobs were practically falling off the dress.

"You're just filling up." Chuck explained, trying his best not to make Celina feel awkward. _Too late _Celina thought bitterly. Ever since she got back from California she had started changing. From 5 feet she turned to 5"2. Not only that but she had found a need to start wearing women's bras, since her boobs have grown enormously, and getting waxed.

True she was more developed than some of the girls in her class but that didn't change how she felt. Plus her mom had taken her to a dermatologist because her acne has been acting up. Luckily the Waldorf's had a personal dermatologist that gave her facials every 2 weeks and got her medications.

And the tip of the ice burg was when her mom told her that her butt has grown. Now that drove her crazy. She looked at the entrance, secretly praying that no one would notice the change in her body. Especially Nick and Alex, whose male hormones were slowly growing.

Blair and Chuck entered the room, politely greeting anyone who came their way. Even from her pathetic view she could already see Nick looking at the champagne glasses with a high amount of curiosity while Alex was conversing with Sabrina Van Der Woodsen, Ej Van Der Woodsen's big sister.

Celina, determined not to let her new appearance bring her down, walked towards her friends with high confidence. She stopped right in front of Nick, who was now swirling the champagne in his right hand.

"Nick," Celina said, demanding his attention. Nick put the champagne glass down and immediately froze. Eyeing her up and down, causing Celina to become even more conscious. She was used to having admirers look at her but now that she had a whole new physical appearance she wasn't so sure she looked good. In fact, she felt ugly.

Nick then stopped right on her face and gaped at her as if she was a statue in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Celina," He choked out, still looking at her in shock. _Was her skin too dark? Did she looked like a prostitute because of her boobs? Was there a huge red mark in the back of her dress? _Celina thought, trying to figure out why Nick was so shocked.

Alex, who just finished talking to Sabrina, also stopped and looked at her. Her entire appearance changed. She was curvier, darker, and was even taller. Suddenly the beautiful little shrimp that Alex believed her to be was suddenly gone and was replaced with a… young lady. That was the proper way to describe her. Not too old but not too young, just on the verge of being a lady.

What Alex couldn't believe was how he felt the sudden need to be around her… to touch her. Even if Alex had experience cravings for girls he had never craved for someone the way he was craving for her now.

"What happened to you?" Alex asked in a bare whisper, eyeing her new physical features. It was like getting applications on your iPhone, it made spending hundreds of dollars worth it.

"Am I really that bad?" Celina asked, trying to sound playful.

Alex and Nick shook their heads at the same time. "You just look so… different." Nick piped in, his blue eyes being covered by his black-blonde hair. "A good different or a bad different?" Celina demanded an answer, her confidence coming back to her now.

"A good different." Both Alex and Nick answered. She looked over at Peyton Archibald, whose chest was so flat that it could be a back, and smirked. Throughout the month she's been fussing about being different.

Suddenly being different was the best thing in the world.


	2. When Alex Archibald grows up

Sealed with a kiss

Place: Pansy Parkinson's Pent

house (At the Carlyle Hotel)

Time: 10:34 PM

Alex Archibald sat lazily on Pansy Parkinson's day bed as he watched his fellow Riverside Prep class mates walk around and mingle carelessly. Pansy, the birthday girl, announced that they would play spin the bottle. Suddenly a huge lump was in Alex's throat. He tried his best to hide his fright by rolling his eyes as he watched Nick, his best friend, immediately join the circle.

Alex wished that he had just skipped the party. The last thing he wanted was for people to find out that he had never kissed a girl. He had boasted to all the boys in his class that he had kissed since he was in the 6th grade. But if he was going to be stuck kissing a girl he certainly didn't want it to be one of Celina's friends. They were known to spread gossip as if it was a germ.

The party kept going and Alex tried his best to make excuses. Blaise, a high school boy who joined the party, even believed his excuse that he had kissed too many girls at his last party. After a while Pansy's maid brought in Vodka and Sprite. Most of the guys, and girls, quickly ran towards the plump maid in hopes of showing off to their friends that they can handle a drink.

An hour passed and Alex was getting more and more nervous. Virginia, an 8th grade girl who was desperately in love with him, had asked him several times if he could join. The group, which consisted of 10 people, started to notice his absence.

And as luck would have it Nick himself walked out of the closet, a small smear of colorless lipgloss on his cheek, and made his way towards Alex.

"C'mon Alex, join." Nick persuaded, taking his lean left arm in an attempt to drag him to the circle. "No thanks," Alex said, his voice steady. He was hoping that Nick would remember that he had never kissed a girl, but it seemed like Nick didn't.

"Chicken!" Nick immediately said, an amused grin on his face. If he weren't Alex's best friend and equal he would have taken the green Perrier bottle from the middle of the circle and smashed it on his head. "I'm not." Alex denied.

"Come on, Alex! You've kissed tons of girls it shouldn't be a problem." It now seemed like Nick was doing this to him on purpose. "I dare you." Nick added, his eyes twinkling at Alex's shocked expression. Dares between the two best friends were very frequent, and the other always delivered.

Alex wouldn't be the first one to not deliver. So he stood up, his cool and composed mask on, and sat beside Theodore Nott. "Spin the bottle." Will Turner mused as he jerked Celina's drunk body off of him. Though Celina and him had their first drink together she didn't drink as frequently as he did. Celina now shot up and giggle. "Come on, Alex." Celina said, laughing hysterically.

Alex turned the bottle, hoping that it would land on one of the drunk girls like Jackie or Rosalie. As he watched the bottle turn and turn he was secretly hoping that one of them would call it off. No one did.

It landed at the person right across from his with her jet-black hair falling near her face. "Alex and Celina," Pansy announced, pleased by the match. Celina, who looked like she had just won the lottery, shot up and grabbed his arm. She immediately led him to the burburry coat filled closet. She shoved the coats aside and grinned at him innocently.

"Don't tell anyone I did that." She said like a little girl who was caught eating cake before dinner. Alex was suddenly glad he had gotten Celina. Not only would she ever remember this but she wouldn't have the heart to tell anyone, since she was an unexperienced kissed herself.

"What are we supposed to do?" Celina asked him, clearly forgetting that she was alone in a room with him. "This," Alex didn't want to think, he didn't want to feel. All he wanted was to loose his lip virginity for good. And who else would he loose it to than to his best friend who was secretly also ashamed of her lip virginity.

He was glad Nick went to the bathroom, if he found out his two best friends kissed it would be a disaster. So Alex placed his two hands firmly on her Audrey Hepbrun like cheeks and leaned in to kiss her.

He had never imagined lips to be so soft and so tender. He had never felt so close to any girl than he did now. Celina immediately responded, letting her lips press firmly on his. It seemed like she was even more inexperienced for she stood in a steady position. Alex wrapped his arms around her dainty waist and reluctantly let his tongue slide into hers.

The moment flied as if it was heaven. Her kiss sent chills down his spine, her touch made him feel alive. For once he didn't feel cold, he didn't feel safe, he felt like he was gambling all of it away. As if he was giving himself to her. And that's when Alex broke away from the kiss. He didn't want to give himself to her completely.

The two of them didn't think of each other that way, they were best friends. That was all they should be. Celina, who was grinning from ear to ear, started to open the doors. She ran towards the bathroom, about to throw up.

He was glad she wouldn't remember they kissed. If she did he didn't know what he would do. And that's when Alex realized that he didn't have a mere infatuation over her. He loved her. Not as a best friend or a sister. He loved her the same way Mr. Darcy loved Elizabeth Bennet. He never said it out loud, he never declared it, he just felt it.

All his questions were answered. For months he had been debating why he had felt slightly nervous and protective of Celina. Now he knew why. He loved her.

But he couldn't have her. So Alex Archibald, the most popular and sly boy in school, decided that he would ask Jackie Coates out on a date tomorrow. Alex stored his feelings away, not wanting to deal with them, and decided that he would become a player. With all the women in his hands. It was the only way he could forget.

The next day Celina approached him and asked him if anything happened. He laughed it off and aid that he would never kiss her even if she begged him to.

Unknown to him Celina was never wasted to begin with. She secretly slipped water in her drink so she would have an excuse to not play because she believed her friends would object to her playing if she was smashed.

Celina remembered the kiss. She remembered everything.

Celina was glad that Alex denied it for she was also denying that feeling they both felt in their stomachs.

_Butterflies_

**AN:**

**I just wanted to point out that this isn't a series. It's just several one shots about the 'Diamonds in the rough' characters. It will mostly deal with the complications of growing up and what lead them to be the people they were in Diamonds in the rough. **

**The next one will be Nick's.**

**Please review**


	3. When Nick Baizen grows up

Popping Champagne

Place: Baizen-Humphrey Townhouse

Time: 11:42 PM

It was a usual day at the Baizen house. The two Baizen boys, Blaise and Nick, would wake up to the sound of bacon being cooked and maids running around the house. Nick, the younger Baizen boy, walked downstairs without his brother, who was out on a school retreat. As he walked down the hardwood floors, his Puma shoe covered feet leaving dry dirt pieces on the stairs; he heard something that he didn't usually hear. Voices.

The Baizen family wasn't a very loud family. The house was silent for the most part. All you could hear was the maids walking around and cleaning the house or his mother talking on the phone. Other than that the house was filled with pure silence. At a young age Nick was thought to keep his opinions to himself and keep quiet. It was at his father's insistence since Carter worked as a lawyer and was very stiff.

Nick looked to his left, trying to see where the voices were coming from. From his position he could hear it coming from his father's study. Nick guessed that it was another fight between his parents. Everyone knew that Jenny and Carter's marriage was on the rocks ever since Carter was spotted with some 20-year-old red head at the Archibald's garden party at the Hamptons last summer.

Nick reluctantly stepped down from the last step on the stairs and quietly walked towards his father's study at the back of the house. He places his shaking hands in his pockets, hoping that his hands being shielded would protect him from what he was about to hear. As he caught sight of the familiar black door with glass windows he avoided being seen by standing on the right side of the door. He looked around the hall and saw an old flower vase sitting mindlessly on the marble stand.

Though he was smart for his age he did things that weren't logically helpful. So he picked up and the vase and pressed it's one side to the door, hoping to hear the loud conversation going on between his parents.

"Nick and Blaise need a father!" His mother's voice rang through the glass. "They have you." Carter said calmly, though his voice sounded rough and impatient. "It's not enough! How can you live with going around the world when your children hardly get to see you." Jenny's voice sounded like it cracked, which was a sign of tears. "They get to see me." Carter defended. Nick put the glass down and peered at the window.

He saw his mother standing in front of Carter's desk, tears filling up in her eyes. While his father Carter just sat steadily on his leather seat. Nick hated his, he truly did. Lately he had woken up to arguments between his two parents, which resulted to him sneaking out at night and falling asleep on Celina's black leather coach.

Nick didn't want to hear the rest of the argument. He was supposed to be fun, energetic, and care free. He was supposed to bad mouth anyone who got in his way and manipulated any situation to become number one. If Nick continued to listen to these arguments he would end up being an emotional wreck who walked around dressed in all black and smoking pot.

So he stood up, still maintaining his silent sound, and quietly walked down the hall.

--

A week later Carter Baizen left for Mexico. It was all over the tabloids, newspapers, and was even talked about by all the maids on the Upper East side. Nick wanted to hide under his cotton comforter and never come out until his father went home. His brother Blaise acted calmly as he tried to convince Nick that their parents would get back together. Nick reminded Blaise that he wasn't an 8 year old anymore. He was 13, he was aware of his surroundings. He didn't believe in happily ever after, he was much too old for that.

The truth was Nick had been expecting this for quite awhile. He knew that it would only take so long until his parents gave up and got a divorce. And yet he couldn't bring himself to accept it. He had lost his father and that changed everything.

Nick sat up from bed, his blonde-black hair messy and tangles, and walked out of his huge bedroom. It was 8:00 PM and no one was home. His mother drowned herself in work while his brother stayed strong and focused his attention on basketball. As he walked down the stairs with no destination, one came to mind.

Nick ran to the house's living room, his eyes filled with purpose, and ended up in front of a built in bar. For years he had found the small bar in the back of the room so mysterious. He had always wondered what it would like to drink all these expensive alcohols. Now he was going to fin out. He walked to the back, he had seen his father do this before, and opened the cup board. Though children at the Upper East side were exposed to champagne and wine his mother always frowned upon drinking and had banned her two sons from drinking. But Carter was determined to have a mini bar in case they had guests.

He looked through the bottle and found one with the label 'gin' on it. He knew enough about drinks to know it was for martini's. He brought out a martini glass, a little startled by the unfamiliar shape, and put it on the shiny counter. He then opened the bottle and poured a small amount in. _I'm just gonna try _Nick thought to himself.

As he took a sip he tasted a tangy and spine shivering taste. He didn't really like it. It was far too strong and it's taste was so sour. But it felt like heaven. It tasted the same way he felt every time his parents got into a fight. Sour and bitter, to be exact. He then picked up the bottle and filled the glass with even more gin.

Nick Rufus Baizen decided to always drink from that day on. That way the taste would supply the sour and bitterness, and not the memories of his father walking out of him.


End file.
